The 31-year-old Hawpe has posted an ugly .642 OPS and two home runs since the All-Star break, but part of his struggles can be equated to a lack of playing time and he should be rejuvenated in joining a playoff race. If he joins a playoff race.

Renck believes that the Rangers and Red Sox will show interest, but look for a good helping of teams to jump in on the negotiations. He’s not exactly a versatile player — and probably needs to be limited to a corner outfield or first base job — but Hawpe still has great power potential and a .280/.374/.492 career batting line.

Despite all the talk about this possibility in the past few days, this surprises me. I know Hawpe has been awful this season, but I’m still surprised the Rockies couldn’t get anything for him in trade, given the power he offers (at least in theory).